Over the past few days, certain councillors and activists have taken to social media and the press with a series of misleading and opportunistic claims about the formation of Wealden Partners, a new opposition grouping at Wealden District Council.
Let’s be absolutely clear: Wealden Partners is not a merger. No one has changed political colours. Independent and Conservative councillors remain exactly that: Independent and Conservative.
What has changed is the conduct of the ruling administration and its increasingly centralised and anti-democratic approach to governing. That is the reason Wealden Partners was formed; to restore scrutiny, protect local democracy, and ensure residents are properly represented.
Why Wealden Partners exists
Over the past year, the Green, Liberal Democrat and Labour coalition now running the Council has pushed through a series of constitutional changes that weaken public accountability. These include:
- Reducing the size of key planning committees, limiting representation;
- Restricting substitute members, preventing councillors from attending vital meetings;
- Centralising decision-making authority within a narrow leadership group;
- The spending of taxpayer money to frustrate a statutory scrutiny process;
- Let’s not forget last year during Rachel Millward’s disasterous leadership that she was so afraid of the opposition that she literally contrived to remove seats on the scrutiny committees from the Independent and Conservative groups telling another Councillor “we are taking your seats”
These are not technical adjustments. They are calculated decisions that make it harder for elected representatives to speak up for the communities they serve. They reduce transparency, shut out dissent, and shift power away from ordinary residents.
Wealden Partners was created in response to this erosion of democratic checks and balances. Councillors from the Independent and Conservative groups remain politically distinct and vote according to their own principles. But by coordinating on matters of governance and scrutiny, we can do what residents expect us to do; stand up for them.
Labour’s outsized influence. Without a mandate
One of the more revealing reactions to the formation of Wealden Partners came from Cllr Daniel Manvell, a Labour councillor who claimed:
“The Independent councillors on Wealden District Council have today shown their true-blue, Conservative colours. Having been elected by residents to boot the Tories out at the last election, these Independent councillors are now trying to put the very same Tories back into power.”
This is a striking statement – not least because it comes from a councillor whose own party was overwhelmingly rejected by voters in Wealden. Labour has no natural mandate here. Yet it now holds significant influence within the ruling Green–Lib Dem–Labour coalition, solely because the administration depends on Labour votes to function.
That’s the uncomfortable truth: Labour councillors, despite commanding minimal support across the district, now help determine the direction of the Council. Residents were never asked whether they wanted Labour involved in running Wealden, and they certainly didn’t vote for it. But last year, in a backroom deal, Labour was brought in to help prop up an Alliance that lacked the numbers to govern on its own.
Labour councillors now vote on key policies, shape committee structures, and back decisions that have curtailed local scrutiny and undermined public representation (including the shrinking of planning committees and the restriction of substitute members).
And when anyone dares to challenge those decisions? The response is predictable: attack the opposition, deflect attention, and question the legitimacy of those who stand up to them.
Cllr Manvell’s quote is a useful distraction from that reality. But residents can see what’s going on. This is not about Independents turning “blue” – it’s about Labour pulling the strings from the shadows, without ever earning the public’s trust to do so.
One of the Labour councillors cares so little about their responsibility to residents that, according to their training record (which is freely available on WDC’s website) they’ve not been to a mandatory planning training session for over 2 years leaving them unable to perform a core function as a councillor.
The idea that Wealden Partners is some kind of political merger falls apart instantly when you look at the upcoming by-election. Both the Conservative and Independent groups are standing separate candidates – while the so-called Alliance has put forward just one, proving where the real political (and ideological) alignment lies.
Wealden Partners wasn’t formed to play party politics. It was formed because residents deserve better than this.
The Alliance that no one voted for
The Green–Liberal Democrat–Labour alliance that now controls Wealden District Council was formed after the election in 2023, without public discussion or endorsement.
It was not on any ballot paper. It did not appear in a single manifesto. It was not mentioned on any doorstep. It is an arrangement that exists purely because of a post-election deal stitched together once the votes had been counted.
Now, those same councillors claim moral outrage over a group of opposition councillors choosing to coordinate their efforts to hold them to account. The hypocrisy is extraordinary.
It is also worth noting that Labour’s role in this administration is not symbolic. The Alliance is entirely dependent on Labour votes to maintain control, in a district where Labour’s platform was soundly rejected. That dependence undermines any claim the coalition has to genuine local support. The upcoming by election in Horam and Punnetts Town will be an interesting test for the Alliance’s supposed support (read more about that here).
If anyone is betraying the will of the electorate, it is not the opposition. It is those now governing from behind closed doors.
What Wealden Partners actually stands for
Wealden Partners is not about party politics. It is about service.
We are committed to:
- Restoring scrutiny and public accountability;
- Defending local representation, particularly in planning and development;
- Ensuring local services are delivered with competence and value for money;
- Representing our communities honestly and effectively.
We do not need to agree on every issue to agree that residents come first. That is the principle that brought Wealden Partners into being.
Final thought: Who do we work for?
Wealden Partners is a responsible, constructive opposition formed in response to the centralisation of power and the silencing of dissent.
We have not changed our political identities.
We have not hidden our intentions.
We have not constructed an agreement that says we can’t disagree with one another
Councillors like Cllr Manvell are free to spin their narratives. We will continue doing what we were elected to do: represent our communities, ask difficult questions, and protect the integrity of local democracy.
Because in the end, we are there to represent the people of Wealden.
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